Poland 1944
At Auschwitz concentration camp, young Jew, Eric Lensherr, is separated from his parents. He angrily causes metal to bend and warp.
Meridian, Mississippi, the not-too-distant future.
Dr Jean Grey tells a Senate hearing mutations manifest at puberty, often triggered by periods of emotional stress. Senator Kelly asks again if mutants are dangerous.
The American people deserve the right to decide whether they want to live side-by-side with mutants. People must know who they are and what they can do.
Northern Alberta, Canada
The Wolverine, aka, Logan, beats yet another contender, remaining undisputed King of the Cage. The bartender later puts his gun against Logan’s head for being a mutant. Logan produces metal claws, slices the gun in half and drives away.
Logan finds mutant teenage runaway, Rogue, hiding in his van and gives her food. When people touch her skin, they get hurt. The van hits a tree and a fire ignites in the back. Rogue is trapped by her seat-belt.
Sabretooth, member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants, attacks Logan. Charles Xavier’s X-Men mutant, Storm generates a storm. Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, zaps Rogue’s seatbelt. Both Rogue and Logan are removed by Storm and Scott respectively and the van explodes.
Telekinetic Jean tries taking blood from an unconscious Logan, but he swiftly overpowers her and flees, hearing whispers. Charles then asks if Logan would like breakfast.
They’re in Westchester County, New York. It’s Charles’ school for the gifted. Magneto is a powerful mutant who believes a war between mutants and humans is coming, but the school will protect Logan.
Charles tells Logan it’s been fifteen years living from day-to-day with no memory. Charles teaches young mutants there to harness their powers and teach others to do the same.
Some students have gifts so extreme, they’re a danger to themselves and others, like Rogue. Logan asks what’ll happen to Rogue. Charles says she can rejoin the world as an educated young woman or stay on to teach others. Talented telepath Charles was seventeen when he first met Magneto, who can control metal.
On board a helicopter, Senator Kelly asks where they are. Kelly’s aide, Henry, transforms into blue, shape-shifting mutant, Mystique. She knocks out Kelly, then joins Sabretooth in the cockpit — headed for Magneto’s island, Genosha.
Jean says the metal within Logan is an alloy called adamantium, supposedly indestructible. Logan has uncharted regenerative capability, enabling him to heal rapidly. But, he could be any age.
Kelly regains consciousness in a metal chair. Metal rings spin and radioactivity emanates from Magneto, soon engulfing Kelly and the whole mountain.
Logan’s dreaming of a military setting with champagne. People are in strange masks and Logan is submerged. He violently wakes up and puts a claw through Rogue’s chest.
She touches Logan’s face and he suffers while she heals. He falls convulsing to the floor. With mutants, Rogue temporarily absorbs their powers. She absorbed Logan’s ability to heal.
Kelly can melt through his metal bars. A swish of Magneto’s hand makes the cell bars spread open. Magneto finds Kelly hanging onto the cliff face. Kelly plummets into the sea.
Bobby tells Rogue mutants should never use their powers against another mutant. The students are freaked and Prof Xavier is furious. Rogue flees and Bobby’s eyes glow yellow like Mystique.
Charles has an eye-scan and says welcome to Cerebro, a mutant-locating machine. Cerebro amplifies Charles’ power, allowing him to locate mutants across great distances.
Charles has been trying to find Magneto, but Magneto helped Charles build the machine, and so can evade capture. Charles tells the others Rogue is at the train station a few miles west.
He tells Storm and Scott to find Rogue and see if they can talk to her. Logan steals Scott’s motorbike. He finds Rogue and apologises, as does she. She says another student told her the professor was angry with her. At the train station, Storm tells Scott to look around.
Sabretooth lifts Storm off her feet by the throat, breaking glass with her head. Toad dislodges Scott’s glasses with his tongue and red energy destroys the roof.
Storm has Sabretooth struck by lightning, thrown backwards through the air. Pieces of metal infrastructure begin warping and bending, passengers screaming. Magneto’s there floating.
He renders Logan immobile, then suspends him painfully by the claws, casting him backward. Rogue runs after Logan, but Magneto fires a syringe at Rogue and seizes her.
Magneto raises up two police cars and dumps them onto others. He turns the police officers’ guns one hundred and eighty degrees in the air. Sabretooth takes Magneto by the throat and says that’s enough.
Toad tells Magneto to let them go. Inhabiting Sabretooth’s mind, Charles asks why Magneto wants Rogue. Magneto says if they pass that law, they’ll have Charles in chains with a number burned into his forehead.
Magneto cocks all the floating guns and fires a rifled bullet at one officer. The bullet pauses inches from the officer’s forehead. More aimed guns are cocked at other police.
The first policeman cries out in anguish. Sabretooth releases his grip on Magneto and Toad also returns to normal. Magneto says Charles is weak because he’s unwilling to make sacrifices.
Senator Kelly arrives at the school panting, wet and dishevelled, looking for Dr Jean Grey. He thought if he went to hospital, they’d cast aspersions because he’s become a mutant. Charles mind reads and learns about Kelly’s recent experiences.
Magneto’s machine emits radiation that triggers an unnatural mutation in ordinary human beings, with no effect on mutants. Logan figures Magneto’s going to transfer his power to Rogue and use her to power the machine.
Charles goes to Cerebro to find Rogue. Because it was sabotaged by Mystique, Charles uses Cerebro and falls into a coma. Once it’s safe again, Jean uses Cerebro to discover where Magneto’s going.
The night of the United Nations summit. Magneto says he’s going to kill Rogue because whole families across the world have been destroyed because they were born different from those in power.
Scott says Magneto’s on Liberty Island getting ready to mutate the world leaders at the UN summit on Ellis Island. But, Magneto’s unaware his machine kills.
If Magneto gave Rogue enough power, he could wipe out everyone in the city. Scott asks Storm for some cover and her eyes go white. Magneto tells Sabretooth to stay close and Toad and Mystique to stay sharp.
Logan tells the others there’s someone there. He produces his claws, but the real Logan pounces on him. The first Logan is actually Mystique and both grapple.
Toad kicks Scott by swinging on his tongue, then using it to slide closed a heavy door. Jean freezes Toad mid-air. Toad spits slime in Jean’s face, then kicks Storm into an elevator shaft.
Scott carefully blasts Toad’s slime from Jean’s face. Storm’s eyes go white, wind and lightning blowing about her. Storm’s lightning strikes Toad, who’s sent screaming into the Hudson River.
Logan stabs fake-Storm and opens the heavy door, announcing himself to Jean and Scott. A vigilant Scott asks Logan to confirm his identity. Logan calls Scott a dick. Scott is convinced.
Magneto throws Logan against a metal wall. Scott, Jean and Storm are also then trapped against the wall with metal. Logan’s claws are trapped pointing at his own chest.
Logan focuses on his claws and they go in through his chest and out through his back. He yells in pain, but is freed. As they fight, Logan claims back his dog tag from Sabretooth.
Magneto holds Rogue and his face becomes veiny. A weakened Magneto crawls outside. The top of the Statue of Liberty explodes to reveal Rogue screaming inside Magneto’s rotating metal rings.
Jean floats Scott’s glasses toward Scott. Scott’s laser hits Sabretooth, who falls far below. Logan wants to free Rogue from the rings. Scott tells Jean to use her powers to try and steady him.
Storm’s eyes go white and Logan’s lifted off his feet. Jean also helps propel Logan. The radioactivity expands. Magneto controls Logan’s claws.
Scott reaches for his laser, but Jean makes him wait. The UN leaders notice the radioactivity and panic. Logan’s struck by a spinning ring and the whole structure explodes.
The radioactivity stops spreading and Liberty Island goes dark. Logan cuts Rogue free and holds his face to hers, soon exhibiting damage. Rogue comes around and the X-Men fly home.
Jean says Rogue temporarily assumed a few of Logan’s personality traits, but they lived through it. The Mutant Registration Act suffered with the reversal of Senator Robert Kelly, actually deceased, aka Mystique.
Rogue asks if Logan is running again. He says he’s got unfinished business up north, indicating her white hair. She likes it, but doesn’t want Logan to go. Logan takes Scott’s motorbike.
Charles visits an incarcerated Magneto. Magneto asks if Charles isn’t worried they’ll one day seize all mutants. Charles would pity the poor soul who came to the school looking for trouble.
Magneto says the plastic prison won’t hold him forever. He intends to fight the inevitable war by any means necessary. Charles tells Magneto he’ll always be there to fight him.
Starring Patrick Stewart. Hugh Jackman. Ian McKellen. Rated 15. Dir Bryan Singer. Released in the UK 2000. Runtime 1hr 44mins
